Oysters?

[AlBo]

I found these on a stump outside of church. We just had a bit of rain the past few days. The one on the bottom(more white) seems to be the same species but maybe more mature. The gills are attached. Most of the mushrooms here are attached at the bottom (growing from a clump).

[Dave W]

If those are Oysters, then they appear to be past prime... caps splitting.

Some other wood-inhabiting mushrooms that have whitish gills and are attached to the substrate either laterally or by a short stalk fail to match up with this for one reason or another.... Lentinus/Lentinellus have saw-toothed gills, Hohenbuehelia species are smaller than the ones seen here. Hypsizygus usually has a well-defined stem.

Spore print color may help here.

[AlBo]

Dave, apparently my wife doesn't love mushrooms as much as I do. She found them "laying around" and put them in the can. I didn't get the print. Anyway, you can see the smaller ones dont have the split edges. Is it common for oysters to get so large? The largest was nearly 5 inches across.

[AlBo]

Also, you can see that the gills are staggered in length. They are not all full lengthens gills. These are not breaks in the gills.

[Dave W]

The large size of these actually favors the Oyster Mushroom proposal. Other similar types of mushrooms --except for Lentinus and Panus-- are generally smaller. I have found Oysters up to 7 inches in diameter. I doubt these are Lentinus or Panus.

[AlBo]

Dave, can you give any advice on favorable and not so favorable spore print colors when trying to ID oysters?

[Dave W]

Oyster represent a complex of related species. Spore print color ranges from almost white to pale lilac to light smoky grayish. Some reports indicate that Oyster prints may be pure white, but I haven't seen this. Angel Wings (Pleurocybella porrigens) --an Oyster look-alike that grows on coniferous wood-- has white print. Oyster mushrooms --Pleurotus species-- grow on wood of deciduous trees.

[New-B]

Found this "little" gem 2 days ago.

7 ft off the ground, on a maple tree.

The tape measure is in inches!

If the photo does not show.....Can someone help me out?

I'm using an ipad, maybe thats the problem?

I REALLY AM A NEW-B!

[Dave W]

Photo of underside is difficult to interpret on account of the shadow. But I think I see gills which show adnexed attachment (gills tapered and reaching the stalk but attached thinly). This would rule out Pleurotus (Oyster). I think this may be an example of Hypsizygus tessulatus.

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~6211~gid~~source~gallerydefault.asp

Clearer view of gill attachment would help.

[New-B]

Sorry Dave.

I should have shown this pic. For clearer I.D.

Do you still think Hypsizygus?

P.S. The spore print was white.

[Dave W]

Yup, H. tessulatus is a likely ID. I also found some the other day.

http://mushroomobserver.org/182703?q=2Gp5z

[New-B]

Thx again Dave. 8) ........happy hunting.